Author Profile

Burck Smith

Burck Smith is the CEO and founder of StraighterLine. Before launching StraighterLine, he was the founder and CEO of SMARTHINKING, the dominant online tutoring provider for schools and colleges. Burck has worked as an independent consultant with such clients as the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Computer Curriculum Corporation, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the Milken Exchange on Education and Technology, Teaching Matters Inc., Converge Magazine, and others. He has written chapters for two books on education policy for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and is a member of the AEI’s Higher Education Working Group. As a writer about education and technology issues, Burck has been published by Wired Magazine, Wired News, Converge Magazine, University Business and the National School Boards Association. He holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a B.A. from Williams College.

Articles by Burck Smith

Maximum Education or Maximum Revenue?

Jun 20, 2012 · Burck Smith · Comments Off

College officials may favor their own online courses over less costly ones offered by others.

Disrupting College? Lessons from iTunes

Mar 22, 2011 · Burck Smith · Comments Off

So far, online education has failed to transform higher education. An entrepreneur explains why.

Did You Know? Student Loan “Pauses” Help Those Who Can Afford to Pay Jun 30, 2022
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers implemented sweeping relief programs to offset the economic shock of lockdowns, layoffs, and shifts in consumer behavior. Among these actions was a provision for the blanket forbearance of student loan debt for 42.3 million borrowers. Despite the well-intentioned nature of such “payment freeze” policies, little was initially … Continue reading “Did You Know? Student Loan “Pauses” Help Those Who Can Afford to Pay”
Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022
Thales College, a new undergraduate institution launching this fall in Wake Forest, N.C., is eagerly preparing to open its doors to its inaugural class. Thales College is a unique institution with a fresh vision for higher ed: rigorous academics and effective professional preparation joined with a commitment to affordability not often found among other higher … Continue reading “Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall”
Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid? Jun 20, 2022
Chancellor salaries at public universities across the country are far higher than those for other public executives, out of step with faculty compensation, and unrelated to student success and university performance. A new program at UNC may help to address some of these concerns. In an article in Forbes, the economic historian Richard Vedder states … Continue reading “Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid?”

Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall Jun 23, 2022
Thales College, a new undergraduate institution launching this fall in Wake Forest, N.C., is eagerly preparing to open its doors to its inaugural class. Thales College is a unique institution with a fresh vision for higher ed: rigorous academics and effective professional preparation joined with a commitment to affordability not often found among other higher … Continue reading “Did You Know? New College to Launch in Wake Forest This Fall”
The Limits of Expertise Jun 22, 2022
As a professor devoted to his college’s “pre-disciplinary” core curriculum, I was hooked by David Epstein’s title, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. The book is chock-full of anecdotes and evidence that people with breadth or range—indeed, amateurs in the true sense of the word—can contribute immensely to enterprises in environments that seem, … Continue reading “The Limits of Expertise”
Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid? Jun 20, 2022
Chancellor salaries at public universities across the country are far higher than those for other public executives, out of step with faculty compensation, and unrelated to student success and university performance. A new program at UNC may help to address some of these concerns. In an article in Forbes, the economic historian Richard Vedder states … Continue reading “Are UNC System Chancellors Overpaid?”

How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative Jul 1, 2022
By now, only the most dishonest or intentionally ignorant observers deny the existential crisis facing higher education. Universities no longer even maintain the pretense of dispassionate rational and free inquiry, focusing instead on a particularly toxic and frankly absurd form of “social-justice” activism, increasingly even in the hard sciences. Why does this situation persist? Here, … Continue reading “How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative”
Did You Know? Student Loan “Pauses” Help Those Who Can Afford to Pay Jun 30, 2022
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers implemented sweeping relief programs to offset the economic shock of lockdowns, layoffs, and shifts in consumer behavior. Among these actions was a provision for the blanket forbearance of student loan debt for 42.3 million borrowers. Despite the well-intentioned nature of such “payment freeze” policies, little was initially … Continue reading “Did You Know? Student Loan “Pauses” Help Those Who Can Afford to Pay”
Tenure’s False Promise Jun 29, 2022
Although tenure has been hotly debated over the years, it is still widely misunderstood as guaranteeing a professor a lifetime position. What happened in May to Joshua Katz, a classics professor at Princeton, calls into question this assumption and, by extension, raises a question about the rights of an individual in our legal system. Katz’s … Continue reading “Tenure’s False Promise”